Skins With Psynergy
by DenK
Summary: The Skins gang are all adepts, but they are persecuted, being seen as dangerous. They must conceal their abilities, but with the world out to get them is that possible? Discalimer: I do not own Skins or Golden Sun
1. Chapter 1

Naomi couldn't sleep. The bed felt like it was made of wood (and it probably was), she couldn't stretch out in it, and she was freezing. Her cell was less than two meters in length and one and a half in width, had a single dangling light bulb dangling from the ceiling and one tiny window. The light was switched off, forcible for it was long passed 'lights out'. Naomi didn't have a clock but she guessed it was around 3am.

She stood up, still wearing the oversized white t-shirt she had been wearing when they had dragged her in here at 9am the precious morning, and began pacing. She wondered over to her window. It was just a few inches in diameter and thick metal bars covered the bulk of it. The view wasn't much, Naomi was on the fifth floor and all she could see was the prison's courtyard and the gate through which the guards came and went.

Naomi decided that the bars were worth a try, even though she didn't think she could survive a five story jump despite her wind psynergy. She gripped one of the steel bars in her hand and channelled all the power she could muster into her palm and sent burst after burst of searing lightning through the bar she held, closing her eyes with concentration, but it was all to no avail. Not even a scratch. She supposed that bars like that were not designed to be broken easily, or prison breaks would be much easier.

_Still, maybe if I had Emily's power?_ Naomi thought to herself, and instantly thoughts of Emily came pulsing through her mind, and she felt the tears begin to well up. _Will I ever see her again? Or will I be tortured in here until I die? _Naomi tried to think positively, but she couldn't, she was trapped, without Emily. She collapsed on her bed gripping her forehead, trying to rid herself of those thoughts, but she couldn't. "FUCK!" She screamed out loud, and immediately regretted it; she might have gotten herself into trouble for being loud after lights out.

She feared even more when she heard footsteps I the corridor. Probably some guard come to take her away to be 'questioned'.

_Oh, God, no. _She thought, hoping and praying that the footsteps would not stop outside her cell. But they did. Naomi heard the jingling of keys, then a key being inserted into the door, then a lock turning, the door swinging open.

When the guard did not immediately grab her she looked up to find the shock of her life.

Stood in the doorway with the keys on one hand and a half empty bottle of vodka in the other was Cook, dressed in a uniform

"You are fucking kidding me." Naomi said, beginning to laugh, "You are fucking kidding me."

"What's wrong Naomikins? Ain't you pleased to see the Cookie Monster?" He asked a grin spreading across his face. Naomi was grinning widely now, and she got up to embrace Cook.

"Forgive me for asking Cook, but has anybody else ever attempted a prison break while drinking a bottle of vodka." Naomi asked.

"First half to relax before we go in, second half for celebrations, Naomikins." Cook stated as if it was obvious, before he plucked his phone out of a pocket as it vibrated. "Yeah I got her, Jay. OK, I'm on it." Cook hung up.

"Naomikins we gotta move. JJ and Ems are watching the cameras and theres a guard headed our way." Cook said as Naomi stepped out of the door and cook swung it shut, to make it look like nothing had happened.

"Ems is here?" Naomi asked as she felt exitement but also concerns for Emily's safety fill her.

"Yeah, your girlfriend's here. Now let's go." Cook said as he pulled out a gun. Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Tranquilizers, Princess." Cook stated casually, as they began to run.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to my one reviewer, you made my day. Quite a niche story, so I'm not expecting too many. Hope I don't disappoint with this chapter**

Cook swung open the door to the CCTV monitoring room. JJ was seated at the main desk, watching the cameras intently, while Emily was leaning against one of the walls also watching the cameras, while playing idly with another gun, though she didn't look too comfortable holding the weapon. Two guards lay unconscious slumped against the wall opposite to Emily. Emily and JJ were dressed head to toe in black, and Naomi was beginning to think her white T-shirt would give them away a mile off.

Emily looked towards the door as it swung open and saw Cook enter, but her gaze remained fixated on the doorway, and sure enough, a second later in came Naomi. She dropped the gun instantly and walked over to Naomi only vaguely aware of the noise the gun made as it hit the floor and Cook whispering at her to keep the noise down.

Naomi pulled Emily into a kiss, Emily whispering into Naomi's ear "I missed you." They had been parted less than twenty-four hours, yet somehow it felt like months.

"Save it ladies, we ain't out of this yet." Cook warned, taking a swig of his vodka while he spoke. "Naomikins, take this." Cook tossed her a rucksack and inside she found dark clothing, identical to the clothes everybody else was wearing, and Naomi proceeded to get changed, stuffing what she had been wearing into the rucksack and tossing it over her shoulder.

"Jaykins, you got the other stuff?" Cook asked.

"Of course." JJ said as he handed cook another rucksack from underneath the desk he was sitting at. Cook pulled out two grappling irons.

"Christ, you lot came well equipped." Naomi said.

"Yeah, Effy has some contacts." Cook said. _She would, _Naomi thought. Effy was well connected in not just in everyday illegal activities, but in the underground network of adepts as well. Adepts tended to stick together, since discover of being one would land you in prison, as it had for Naomi. That was part of the reason why Naomi had the friends she did; they were mostly adepts. Emily and Katie were Mars adepts, Effy and Freddie Venus adepts, JJ and Cook both mercury adepts and Thomas and Pandora were, like herself, Jupiter adepts. Effy had spotted them all a mile off on the first day of college, and they had since, mostly, become friends.

"Right ladies, JJ, time to make a move I think," Cook declared as he finished changing from his borrowed uniform into black clothing like the rest of them, "coast clear Jaykins?"

"Yes, we have approximately seven minutes and forty-three seconds if we climb down from this window." JJ pointed to a window on one of the screens. "They really don't time their patrols well at this place do they?" JJ asked semi-rhetorically.

"All the better for us, JJ." Emily pointed out, absent-mindedly creating flames in the palm of her hand and then extinguishing them again, while she looked up at Naomi who had her arm draped around Emily's shoulders.

"Lets go then," Naomi said, "I don't want to spend a second longer than I have to in this shit hole."

They left the CCTV room and turned right at the nearest junction, then followed JJ, who had politely declined to carry one of the guns, through a couple more corridors until they reached the window he was talking about. Naomi and JJ secured the grappling irons in place while Cook and Emily, holding their weapons, kept watch.

Cook took another swig of vodka before giving out safety clips to attach to the ropes. "Ladies first." Cook whispered and gestured towards the two ropes swaying ever so slightly in the breeze. Cook looked surprisingly nervous.

"What's the matter Cookie?" Naomi teased, "You aren't scared are you?"

Cook tried to hide his fear for a moment, but when he looked out of the window it was clear even in the poor light that his face lost some of its colour. "I bust you out of fucking prison, and you thank the Cookie Monster by taunting him? Shouldn't have fucking bothered." Cook muttered and gulped from his bottle again as Naomi and Emily both let out a tiny laugh.

"Can I just point out that we are wasting _valuable _time here?" JJ said, shaking slightly.

"You heard Gayjay, get climbing." Cook told them. Emily holstered her gun and took hold of the rope on the left, Naomi taking the right. Naomi had once abseiled on a school trip when she was eleven, and after remembering what she had learned during that session, she began to make her way down confidently. Emily was somewhat less confident, and she was falling behind Naomi's pace so she slowed up and descended by Emily's side to reassure her. In just over a minute they had both made their way down and found themselves standing on a grassy area, with a wall that enclosed what they assumed to be a car park twenty metres to their left.

Emily tugged on the rope three times to signal Cook and JJ to begin their descent, and they did, but something was clearly wrong. They were descending rapidly and without fear, even Cook who had moments ago seemed so terrified. Cook jumped the last few metres and whispered to Emily and Naomi.

"Jaykins picked fucking fantastic time for his first fucking wrong calculation. He realized his mistake; guard in thirty seconds." JJ jumped of his rope, clearly disorientated by the whole experience.

"Naomikins, this would be a good time to…" Cook began, but Naomi was already on it. Using her psynergy she lifted the grappling hooks from fifty metres above and used the wind to pick them up and carry them down, before closing the window as well, just in time to see a shadow wander past.

"Fucking fantastic." Cook said, handing her the vodka. Naomi shrugged and drank some before passing it on to Emily, who turned up the offer.

"What's next then?" Naomi asked.

"We steal a car," Emily said.

"Once we get the all clear from Effy and Freddie," JJ was quick to point out, "they're going to knock out the guards at the control both for the vehicle barrier."

Cook motioned for them to run over to the wall and they stood with their backs to it, Cook peering round the corner, identifying a suitable vehicle, however when he pulled out his phone, he only narrowly managed to avoid giving them away by swearing loudly. He read out a text to them, from Freddie: _Had sum probs, b there 30 mins l8, sry. _With that they all sat down and Cook once again passed the now nearly empty bottle around.

Naomi and Emily were quite happy to pass the time in each other's company, though Cook and JJ were visibly on edge. They settled down to wait for the all clear from the two Venus adepts.


	3. Chapter 3

**To those of you who have reviewed, thank you very much. If you haven't already, then please do on your way out, good or bad, I'd like to know!**

Naomi had been up all night and finally, after hours of lying awake on her wooden mattress, pacing her minuscule cell, then finally the cocktail of emotions and events that had been her escape so far, the fatigue finally caught up with her, and she fell asleep on Emily's shoulder.

Naomi dreamed of the morning before. Emily had gone out food shopping, and Naomi had been left at home, lying in bed, still trying to convince herself that it was probably a good idea to get up at some point, when she had heard a loud knocking at the door. She had known instantly that it wasn't Emily, she had her keys. Then the power behind the knocking increased, and Naomi knew it was bad news.

"Police! Special Branch! Open up!" The bellow came from downstairs, words that struck fear into the heart of any adept. Naomi had leapt out of bed with a speed she had not even thought possible. She decided that she would try to climb out of the window and get away, but when she peered out of the window, she discovered that police had surrounded the building.

Suddenly she heard the door being broken in from downstairs, and heard footsteps as the police began to search the house. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before they found her.

Naomi almost gave up, but instead summoned her powers. She, like most others, did not practice the use of psynergy much and therefore was a fairly weak adept. Nevertheless, she felt the sparks of lightning at her fingertips, and the air around her begin to twirl, increasing in pace.

"Found her!" Was the shout of one of the Special Branch officers as he caught sight of her. He fired his stun-gun at her but, with a fair amount of will power; Naomi managed to bat it aside in the whirlwind she had created. She then sent a weak bolt of lightning at the man, just enough to render him unconscious (though she couldn't have managed much more even if she'd wanted to).

However Naomi was soon overrun, and when the police with guns started taking aim, she knew there was no point in carrying on, if she went with them, she at least had a chance of escape.

Naomi was jolted out of her sleep by the repeated use of her name, by a voice she had all too recently feared she would never hear again. "Naomi," Emily said, "Naomi," when Naomi opened her eyes, Emily kissed her on her forehead as Emily slowly began raising her head up in the groggy fashion that Emily was so used to. "We're getting out of here, c'mon." Emily whispered.

Naomi grinned widely. She would be only too glad to be rid of the prison. Naomi noticed that there was a faint hint of light on the horizon and wondered just how long she had been asleep. There wasn't much light, just enough for it to be noticed She guessed it had been more than the half hour Freddie had promised when she heard Cook on his phone saying: "Fucking finally Freds. You took your Fucking time." Cook then hung up. "Right ladies and gays, time to get the fuck out of here."

"Um, may I ask which one of those am I in that sentence?" JJ inquired.

"Whichever you prefer, Jaykins." Cook said as he ruffled JJ's hair. Cook peered around the wall and saw vehicle that would take all six of them (including Freddie and Effy), a Police Special Branch van which would carry large groups of police to raids.

He led them on a short dash across the car park, taking cover behind various cars to avoid being spotted on their way out. When they got to the van, Cook sat in the driver's seat, and set about hot-wiring the van whilst JJ told him what to do. Cook produced a couple of tools from the same rucksack that housed the grappling irons and was done in a few minutes, while Emily and Naomi took seats next to each other in the back, which turned out to be two rows of uncomfortable seating facing each other, with inadequate looking seatbelts jutting out at intervals which suggested that the seating at the back could, in theory, hold up to ten people.

"Let's roll!" Cook declared as the van began to move. He drove them to the exit of the car park then along a thin road to the exit booth where a barrier stopped them advancing any further. Cook nodded at the booth and they were let out, the barrier closing behind them, as the van came to a stop. "Naomikins, Ems, the back doors please?" Cook asked. They swung open the doors and helped Freddie and Effy climb in, also dressed in what seemed to be standard-issue prison break clothes.

"What the fuck Freds?" Cook didn't even bother with greetings.

"Sorry mate, we think we were being followed, we had to lose them." Freddie replied.

"Shit, well couldn't you have done it quicker?" Cook asked.

"You can either have something done quickly," Effy said, lighting up a cigarette as she took a seat opposite Naomi, Freddie sitting next to her and opposite Emily, "or you can have it done so you don't end up in jail, Cook. Which would you rather?" Cook mumbled under his breath, but accepted Effy's response.

"How is prison then Naomi?" Effy asked, both humour and interest in her tone.

"Shit." Naomi responded. "I want to know who tipped off the cops, so I can throttle them."

"Fortunately, you have friends willing to break you out." Emily gazed up at her, smiling.

"That's true." Naomi said, leaning down to kiss Emily, before she gave the rest of them a wider thank you.

"How do you know you didn't give yourself away?" Freddie asked.

"Oh trust me; if anybody among us was going to get caught, it was definitely not Namoikins." Cook said, seeming to have a hint of pride in his voice.

"Cook, this is the place." Effy told him. Without ant argument, Cook parked the van at the side of the residential street that they had found themselves in and got out of the van. Effy got them all to cross the road and they walked further down it for a short while until Effy stopped them outside a large people carrier.

The driver's door swung open and out jumped Katie, who looked as if she had had not had nearly enough sleep and as though she was in a particularly bad mood, even by her standards. Despite her obvious temper she walked over to embrace Emily. "You made it out without getting locked up with your girlfriend then." There was so much ice directed towards Naomi in Katie's voice that it amazed Naomi that the pavement around her was not frozen over. She seemed to be blaming Naomi for putting Emily in danger. Before anybody had a chance to respond Katie spoke again. "Right, lezzers, and the rest of you losers, in the car now, I need my sleep!" Katie barked at them.

"I hope you don't sleep while you're at the wheel, Katiekins." Cook joked.

"Fucking hilarious, you twat." Katie slapped him over the head. "Now get in the car before I drive off without you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Once again thanks for the reviews, and if you haven't reviewed then please do! Brief explanation for those of you who are Skins but not Golden Sun fans. The powers the characters have is called psynergy, and there are four types, each linked to one element and named after a planet. Mercury is water/ice, Mars is fire, Venus is earth and Jupiter is wind/lightning. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!**

Naomi woke up in a strange room, wondering how she had gotten there. She realized that she was on a mattress on the floor without any sheets, or covers for the duvet or pillows. The room was tiny and the faintly yellow wallpaper was peeling. There was a lone window that was closed, without any curtains. She rolled over to find a note next to her in the bed.

_Went to get stuff from mum's. Decided to let you sleep, be back soon. Ems._

The night before all came flooding back to Naomi now, Cook opening the door of her cell, her reunion with Emily, the wait for Freddie and Effy, Katie's iciness when she had driven them all here. _But where is here? _Naomi asked herself, until she recalled Effy declaring it proudly as (while Naomi's eyelids were severely drooping) 'The Adept's Refuge, Bristol.'

It was little to be proud of, an abandoned building that at one stage may have acted as a storage unit of some kind, near some God-forsaken estate in a crime-ridden dangerous part of Bristol. The place was a large dilapidated shack, its only positive side being that nobody, not even the Special Branch would bother with it; because nobody could possible live there. But adepts on the run would stay in any haven.

However, the Refuge had not enticed most of the rest of the gang to stay, they had gone home to sleep in their own beds, except for Emily who despite the lack of decent accommodation, would prefer to stay with Naomi, not to mention the thought of going grovelling to her mother. The fact that she called her old house_ mum's _just went to show how far she had distanced herself from her mother.

Naomi decided to get out of bed and explore what was, for now, her home. She left her room still clothed as she had been the night before, having fallen asleep almost as soon as she had arrived. She left her little room and found herself in a corridor lined with doors which she presumed led to other bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as containing plenty of dry rot.

The corridor led her to what seemed to pass as the living room which was situated at the front of the building. Half a dozen people sat and spoke to each other, some around a table on half-broken chairs, some sat on the floor while one tapped away on a laptop. It took a moment before Naomi spotted Effy, sat in the corner, smoking, and looking at a crumpled piece of paper.

"Hey." Naomi greeted her.

"Hey," Effy said back, turning the paper so that Naomi could see it, "check out the price on your head."

Naomi looked at the wanted poster with her photo on it, not surprising given how edgy people got about dangerous adepts, but as she looked to the bottom of the page she found written in large lettering: _Reward: £100,000._

Naomi whistled. "Hundred grand, not bad."

"Well you did hospitalize a policeman." Effy replied.

Naomi became suddenly racked with guilt, even if the man had been trying to take her in to a worse life than he could possibly imagine "Is he OK?" She asked.

"Minor burns, he'll live." Effy seemed unfazed by the whole situation. "Don't worry you'll be safe here."

"If a bit uncomfortable."

"Beggars can't be choosers."

* * *

Emily entered her key into the door of the Fitch house for the first time in weeks. She didn't really want to come back here, but now that Naomi's house was a no-go she needed to grab some more clothes from her old room.

"Is that you Katie?" _Shit,_ Emily though, she had hoped that nobody was in but it seemed her mother was. _Ah well, no point lying, _she thought.

"No, Emily." She cringed as she heard the words from her own mouth, but before she gave her mother a chance to reply, she added: "just grabbing clothes then I'm leaving."

Emily made a dash for the stairs but her mother stopped her and asked her to come into the kitchen. Though speaking to her mother was the last thing that she wanted to do, Emily decided to make the small concession, though she made a show about doing so.

"So how's Naomi?" Jenna asked with a strange tint of smugness to her voice.

"Fine, mum." Emily tried not to show her surprise at her mother's question, unless her follow-up was 'not dead yet, then?'

As it happened, Emily wasn't far off. "Not been arrested, has she?"

"Mum, how do you know about that?" Emily hissed.

"Oh please, there are posters all over the place. I hear that she's rather violent."

"What did you fucking expect mum? For her to hold out her wrists and beg to be locked up for the rest of her life?" Emily was starting to get angry.

"Well I'd stay well away from her if I was you."

Emily rolled her eyes. "How many times have I heard that before?" She muttered.

"I'm serious Emily, I don't want you in danger, that's why I…" Jenna covered her mouth instantly, realizing what she had said, and willing that Emily hadn't heard, but she had.

"That's why you what, mum? That's why you what? Why you called the police? Because you thought you'd be doing me a favour by having the girl I love locked away? By having one of your own locked away? Why having one _our _own locked away? You make me sick." Emily's knuckles were quivering with fury, her voice getting louder and louder until she punched the table top and for a split second her hand lit up and flames spouted from it in her incandescent rage, before she brought her psynergy back under control. Emily gathered together what she had come for, and left, hoping it would be forever this time.

* * *

Emily walked in to the Refuge to find Effy and Naomi sitting in a corner, smoking and playing cards. She walked over to them still furious.

"Hey," Naomi said, standing up and placing her hands on Emily's shoulders. "How was the house of Fitch?"

"I know who turned you in." Emily stated, her voice rock solid. The cigarette fell from Naomi's open jaw.


	5. Chapter 5

Naomi paced the room she now lived in with fury. Emily sat on their mattress while Effy sat in the corner playing with a pot plant she had bought as a 'house warming' present. Even that little joke had failed to lighten the moods of Emily and Naomi.

Naomi stubbed her cigarette out on the wall, damaging the wallpaper further, while Emily produced another one and lit it in the palm of her hand before handing it to Naomi when she calmed sufficiently to stop her pacing for a moment. Naomi kept flickering with lightning, and the occasional gust of wind, but it was nowhere near as bad as when she had flung all the clothes and other items Emily had brought with her to all corners of the room. Emily glowed slightly now and then as well, while Effy was being more productive and using her psynergy to help the pot plant grow.

"Bitch!" Naomi shouted, breaking the silence. "Thanks to that bitch I got sent to prison and now I have to stay in some rotting, shitty little building and I can't go back to my house!"

"Life's a bitch." Effy commented, distracted as the plant grew another inch; it was now nearly a metre tall. "Ems, if you don't mind." Effy handed her an unlit cigarette, and Emily, who was being treated as a human lighter, obliged and handed it back to Effy. "And I'll have you know, Campbell, that a lot of work has gone into this place over the years. You won't find anywhere safer."

"You couldn't have put a bit more work into the furnishings?"

"I think that money is better spent on guns, night camouflage, abseiling equipment and getaway gars, don't you?"

Naomi could only agree, though it didn't help soothe her anger. She sat down, leaning against the back wall, the window directly above her head. "I can't even leave, now that I'm Bristol's most fucking wanted."

"Thomas is working at the club tonight," Effy began.

"And I can't fucking go!" Naomi shouted.

Emily reached out and grabbed her hand. "I'll stay here with you." She said. Naomi managed a brief smile, but she was still annoyed.

Effy rummaged around in her bag, before pulling out a small box and tossing it to Naomi. "Try this."

Naomi caught it and looked at it sceptically. "Hair dye?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

"Short of plastic surgery, there's not much else I can do. I did bring scissors, if you want it cut?"

Naomi glared at Effy, doubting her hairdressing abilities, but Effy simply shrugged. Naomi took another look at the hair dye. "Red?" She asked.

"Yeah, I thought the two of you could match." Effy said, giving a little laugh, not impressing Naomi, who continued to glare.

* * *

Despite Effy's lacklustre attempt at a disguise, the thought of completely losing her social life because of Jenna Fitch had been enough to persuade Naomi that it was safe enough to leave the Refuge. She had even let Effy and Emily have a go with the scissors, and it hadn't gone nearly as disastrously as it could have.

She picked up the drinks from the bar and walked back over to where Emily, Cook, JJ and Pandora were sitting, trying to have some sort of conversation over the music. "Don't look so bad in red Naomikins." Cook had been pissing himself laughing at the sight of her all night, and it was starting to get boring.

"Fuck off Cook." She handed him his drink.

"Anyway I got us some pills." He handed everyone (except JJ) a pill.

"Whizzer!" Panda said loudly.

"Calm down Panda Pops, you ain't even taken the thing yet." Cook laughed. Naomi sat down next to Emily, and Cook whipped out his phone. "Hang on ladies; I gotta get a picture of this."

"Oh, fuck off you tosser. Come on Ems, let's dance." Naomi pulled her up and they spent a good hour on the dance floor, enjoying themselves, which they were both grateful for after the last couple of days. Soon both of them were drunk and stumbling all over.

"Hey look at that guy over there!" Emily pointed to somebody leaning against the wall and nursing a pint of beer. What was unusual about him was that in the heat of the club he wore a thick, long coat and a cowboy hat that covered most of his face, standing almost perfectly still.

"Ha, ha!" Naomi laughed. "What the fuck is wrong with him?" They both started laughing hysterically due to the alcohol and the drugs. The cowboy's head lifted up from staring into his beer and looked straight at them. They tried to contain their laughter, but found it impossible, nearly falling over and annoying all the people around them. "C'mon Ems, I need some fresh air." Naomi dragged her outside, and they went into an alleyway to the side of the club.

* * *

Thomas was having a great time. His friends had made it, even Naomi, and it was good to see her after her ordeal in prison. He hadn't had much of a chance to talk to her yet, but nonetheless he was particularly glad she had made it. He looked up to see her drag Emily out of the club, both hysterical, and most likely about to vomit. He let out a little laugh of his own.

What caught his eye next troubled him. The strange man he had noticed earlier who was standing alone in the corner had dropped his pint (which was only half empty despite him having nursed it for a good half hour) and began to take long strides across the dance floor towards the exit that Emily and Naomi were headed for, displacing a lot of people and earning several threats from them. But Thomas also saw him reaching inside his large jacket, obviously checking something was still there. Thomas knew what was going on and he knew that he had to do something about it.

* * *

"Fucking cowboy." They were both still finding the whole situation impossibly funny. However, it was all a bit too much for Naomi who found herself throwing up in the alleyway.

Emily grabbed her arm and pointed to where they had entered the alley. The cowboy was walking past. Naomi couldn't help herself. "COWBOY!" She yelled, and then collapsed, giggling.

The man froze, and then pivoted on his heels so that he faced them. "You find my outfit amusing?" He asked as he began walking towards them

"You're either wearing it for a bet or you're on a stag do!" Emily commented.

"Or just a tosser!" Naomi added, slurring drunkenly and beginning to laugh again.

"None of the above." The cowboy had closed the gap between them to half.

"Who are you then? A cowboy?" Naomi yelled.

"Never mind who I am, it's who _you_ are that's important to me." Naomi felt herself sober up, she found the balance that had eluded her for at least half an hour, her stomach settled, she stopped giggling, felt her muscles tighten and stood straight, drawing herself up to her full height in a futile attempt to look intimidating (Cowboy was still a good eight inches taller than her). She could hear Emily making a similar effort. "Hunter." She whispered, though in the clear night air, Cowboy heard her perfectly. The gap between the two parties had closed to just fifteen metres.

"Correct. Miss Campbell and Miss Fitch, I believe." Emily was a little surprised to realize that the Hunter knew her name as well, but it was best not to underestimate these people. Hunters were essentially bounty hunters who specialized in taking in adepts and were on the permanent payroll of the British government.

They were usually, though not always, the children of captured adepts. The government could not legally justify locking them up as well so instead had come up with an ingenious and despicable solution to their problem: they had them shipped off to specially built boarding schools where they had their will broken and were taught how dangerous adepts were, and why they needed to be locked up. They were given an opportunity few other adepts got: to train in the use of psynergy. Unfortunately they were trained to use their powers against other adepts, as well as receiving training in the use of other, more conventional weapons.

The result was a group of highly trained adepts that could be pointed at any other adepts and they would usually manage to capture or kill them, depending on their brief. They were brainwashed and had little in the way of social skills, so it was incredibly rare that they would ever go AWOL meaning they were mainly left to do as they pleased, as long as they got the job done and reported into a police station every now and again.

There was now just ten metres between the girls and the Hunter. "The disguise didn't work then?" Naomi asked rhetorically. In response the Hunter stopped five metres in front of them, and spat on the floor.

"Charming." Emily commented. The alcohol and drugs seemed to keep them in good humour despite the danger that stood right in front of them.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The Hunter was losing his patience.

"If by easy, you mean dragging us to some shit-hole jail, then no thank you; I've been there once and I am not going back without a fight." Naomi brought her fists up in front of her face, though she knew that this wasn't going to end in a fist-fight. It would be something much worse.

"Very well then," Cowboy shrugged off his coat to reveal two guns holstered at his belt, "the hard way."

**The hard way indeed…hehe….cliffhangers. Again all reviews welcome!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Two updates in one night, not too long to wait for a cliff-hanger to be resolved. As usual thank you for reviews, and if you haven't then please do!**

Cowboy drew both his weapons and fired two shots, both at Naomi. She amazed even herself in her current state by manipulating the wind so that the bullets whistled past her. Cowboy fired another few rounds at each of them but Emily was working hard with her psynergy creating a force field around them that incinerated bullets within a tiny fraction of a second of passing through it. Her brow was creased in concentration and Naomi thought that she wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer.

The Hunter emptied both of his guns, but didn't bother to reload, instead flames spouted from his hands, one aimed at both the girls. Emily managed to counteract with her own Mars psynergy, but Naomi was forced to duck and her hair was singed. She rolled over and while the Hunter was occupied with Emily she launched several bolts of lightning at him, however they all hit a barrier similar to the one that Emily had used earlier. Cowboy responded with a beam of heat that hit Naomi on her shin, and left her kneeling on the floor trying to stand up.

Emily disengaged from the psynergetic push-of-war that she was engaged in with Cowboy and instead ran over to Naomi, trying to help her up. Cowboy was swift and merciless. He struck out with another beam of heat, this time taking out the arm that Emily was using to help Naomi up. While they struggled, he took a stride towards them.

"FUCK OFF!" Naomi screamed and miraculously found herself flinging a powerful ball of concentrated psynergy at the Hunter. It hit him in his right shoulder and caused him to stagger backwards a couple of paces, though it had surprisingly little effect and Naomi could feel that her psynergy was nearly drained; she would need a good couple of hours to recover.

In the time that she had bought them, Emily managed to switch sides and use her other arm to haul Naomi to her feet. They were staggering towards the back of the alley, as the Hunter recovered his balance and began walking towards them again.

Emily was able to conjure up a large quantity of fire to hurl at him (the one thing that Katie envied about her twin was that she was a much stronger adept), but only a little hit him, as he put his force field back in place. What did hit him had even littler effect than Naomi's effort as he continued to close in on them.

Both his hands lit up with flames once again as he aimed a stream of fire at each of them once again. Emily was again responding in kind, whilst valiantly trying to keep Naomi upright, but Naomi was too late, and this time she was hit.

* * *

Naomi regained conciseness. The Hunter appeared to have hit her as little as he could; he must have wanted her alive, though she had some minor burns over her body. She looked up to see Cowboy had lost his hat in the fight and he seemed to be tiring slightly, so Naomi guessed she had been out of it for a while. She turned her head to see Emily still desperately plugging away, trying to defend both of them against the Hunter. However, it was clear that even Emily's massive endurance and ability when it came to psynergy was almost depleted; her eyes were closed, her face deep in concentration, as she struggled to maintain her side of the fight while her burnt arm hung limply at her side.

Where the two streams of flames met was now just a metre from Emily and six from the Hunter, showing Emily had nearly lost already. Naomi had an idea. It would most likely never work, but it was the only one that she had.

Cowboy didn't seem to have noticed that Naomi was awake and she had one bolt of lightning left in her. Naomi flung it at him, her aim straight at his head, hoping that his force field was down.

It was, but it didn't take him long to get it back up; less than a centimetre from his head, Naomi's lightning failed. "Naomi!" Emily looked over; noticing that Naomi was back for the first time, but the break in her concentration was almost fatal. Her stream of flames disappeared and Cowboy seized his opportunity, hitting Emily with his psynergy and knocking her out.

Naomi noticed Cowboy panting, and for a moment was proud of her girlfriend for pushing a Hunter that close to his limits, before the reality of the situation sunk in. Not only was she going back to prison, Emily was coming with her. _Jenna Fitch, you fool, _Naomi thought with an odd sense of superiority.

Just as she had given up hope of getting away with her burned leg and Cowboy blocking the way out of the dead-end alley, she saw the Hunter fall to the floor. As he fell she saw Thomas standing where he had been moments before, fists raised and flashes of lightning around him.

"Just in time, I think." Thomas said. "Now, friends, I think that perhaps it is time to leave this place." The rest of the gang coming rushing around the corner following Thomas into the alleyway was the last thing Naomi saw before she blacked out from a combination of booze, drugs, exhaustion and pain.


	7. Chapter 7

She opened her eyes, but her vision was blurred. After a moment it settled and she could see she was staring at a ceiling.

"Ef, look! Ems is awake!"

"Go and get Naomi then."

"Right; good idea Ef." Emily's brain was still finding its way back into reality, as it worked hard to recognize the voices, which she eventually understood to be Effy and Pandora. She turned her head in the direction she had heard them coming from and saw Effy sitting down and leaning against the wall, smoking.

"Welcome back Ems." She said. Emily could only manage a brief groan in response. "Put up quite a fight I hear. Still, you were lucky that Thomas figured out what was going on.

"Thomas?" Emily managed.

"Yeah, he was the one that saved you two, though I think you were already gone by that point."

"How long?" She asked in a hoarse voice.

"Day and a half," Effy replied, "you had to be treated for burns as well. Naomi was only out for a few hours; she's been at your side almost non-stop ever since."

Emily smiled, she was glad Naomi had been at her side. "Hello beautiful." Naomi appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath, probably from sprinting back.

"Hey." Emily croaked back.

"Bloomin' heck, Naomi, you can't 'alf run." Panda followed Naomi into the room. Naomi took Emily's hand and lay down next to her.

Emily weakly managed to put and arm around Naomi, though her right arm was still quite painful and limp. "Don't try and move that just yet." Effy commented, blowing smoke. Emily nodded, noticing it was wrapped in a cast.

Emily looked over at Naomi, noticing the bags under her eyes and how tired she looked. She probably hadn't slept well since the encounter with the Hunter. Emily smiled across at her, just pleased that they had both managed to get away from him. Suddenly Emily heard a noise and her head began to pound. She groaned to express her annoyance, and then recognized it as her own ringtone. Naomi reached her hand onto Emily's pocket and pulled out her phone, before answering it.

"Emily's phone." She said, knowing that Emily was hardly up to a phone conversation. _It's your dad! _She mouthed. "Yeah Rob, its Naomi." A pause. "No she's not really up to speaking right now." Naomi listened to him speak as Emily tried to listen in, though like all of her other senses her hearing was still recovering. "No, we're fine." She looked Emily up and down. "Well, just about." Naomi covered the phone. "You OK for a quick word? He says it's important." Emily nodded. "Yeah, I'll pass you over."

"Emily, something terrible has happened." Emily's stomach began to churn. She no longer cared about her mother, but what if something had happened to Katie or James? "I just got back from work and your mother… Katie… James… they've been taken. I think I should tell you about it face-to-face. Where are you?" Emily gestured for Naomi to take the phone again, mouthing _bring him here._

"Hi Rob. Me again. Listen, we can't exactly give you directions, you'll need to be brought here by someone of you want to be let in. Somebody will meet you on Prince's street. Call this phone when you get there, and watch who answers. Bye." Naomi hung up and tossed Effy the phone; it was still not safe for her to go out, and besides she wanted to stay with Emily.

Emily was sick with worry, even for her mother, something that she had not expected to happen. She didn't know what happened, but she remembered the surprise that she had felt when she had found out that the Hunter knew her name. She wouldn't be too surprised if he also knew of her Mars adept family and mentally kicked herself for not realizing sooner.

**Just a short one, but more soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

Rob Fitch arrived twenty minutes later and took a seat at the table in the Refuge's main room, sitting with Emily. Effy had decided to make herself scarce along with Panda, but Emily had asked Naomi to stay.

Rob immediately noticed the state of his daughter. He was horrified by the fact that she had one arm in a cast, and fading burn marks noticeable over her body. "Emily, love, what happened?"

"Never mind about that now, dad; I'm okay. But I need to know what happened with mum and Katie and James."

"Well," Rob began, looking like he was about to cry, "I got home from work today to see police milling about outside our house. I saw that they were special branch and instantly I feared the worst." He lowered his head. "A Hunter came to our house. He took your mother and called in the special branch to round up Katie and James and take them to one of those hell-hole boarding schools." Tears began to fall, from Emily's face as well as Rob's.

"Dad," Emily began, her eyes running, "I know this may not seem important, but do you know what the Hunter looked like?" In response Rob produced a newspaper clipping from his pocket, with a picture and a caption that read: _After this morning's capture of the dangerous Fitch family. _The photo showed the outside of the Fitch family home, and several policemen and women closing off the scene. However, in their midst Emily saw what she dreaded most: the man in the long coat and Cowboy hat.

"Oh god!" Emily pounded her fist on the table.

Naomi looked at the picture and whispered: "shit."

"What is it girls?" Rob asked, not knowing the significance of the particular Hunter in the picture. Emily explained to him in her croaky voice and through tears, with Naomi taking over when necessary about their narrow escape from the very same Hunter.

"I think that maybe this is to get us." Naomi said, "He didn't manage to get us, now there's a vendetta, and he intends to reel us in by using your family as bait. I'm so sorry Ems." Naomi began to cry as well.

"Not your fault." Emily muttered as she sobbed, "If it's anybody's fault then its mum's." She commented. Rob required another explanation, but when it was given he was as shocked as Emily and Naomi had been.

"SHIT! Why did she have to go and do this to us?" He yelled. Emily tried to calm him down, but to no avail.

A few minutes of shouting and tears later and the door opened. "Big news." Effy commented, tossing a local newspaper with the headline _Killer Adept Family Caught! _The headline only served to annoy Emily and Rob more.

"Fuck's sake! Those fucking liars! She may be a bitch but she's not a killer!" Emily shouted, most likely referring to her mother, though nobody would rule out the possibility that she was talking about her twin. "We have to get them back." Emily said her voice half pleading with Effy. Rob looked up at her as well.

"It's clearly a trap." She said, echoing Naomi's earlier sentiments, "but that doesn't mean that we've given up, though we will have to wait a while until we know exactly where Jenna is being held before we make an attempt to grab her; they won't keep her here in Bristol after Naomi's escape. Fortunately, I can tell you for a fact, as can anybody who has seen any news in the last few hours that that Katie and your brother are on their way to Cardiff Boarding School for Adept Children. And we can definitely get them back."

"But I thought you said it was a trap." Emily was starting to get confused.

"I've got the number of a specialist." Effy seemed incredibly confident as she pulled out her phone, though the confidence she exuded was fairly normal for her. As the chatter began to pipe up, speculating about the identity of Effy's 'specialist', she held up her hand for quiet and they all heard her contact pick up.

"Hello? Effy?" It was a man's voice.

"Yeah, hi. I'm gonna need your help." The next part of the conversation was indistinguishable for those trying to listen in. "You've heard about it then? Yeah, the Fitch kids." A pause while Effy listened once again. "Great, thanks Tony." She hung up. Effy always had a plan.

**Sorry it's another short one, all reviews and comments appreciated.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry that I've been a little later than usual in updating but coursework calls. Anyway, hope it's worth the wait, thanks as usual to my reviewers, and If you haven't then please do review.**

_Sarah Newman sits in on the floor in the room. She refuses to recognize it as her own room, because it is not, even if she has lived in it for four years. Regardless, it is not hers. To admit that the place where she sits is her home is the first step towards accepting the lies she is being fed day in, day out by the barstard teachers. She won't give in to them. She won't become like the other kids: brainwashed and unable to think for themselves. One day they will all be released upon the world where they will hunt down and sometimes even kill their own kind. Sarah promises herself that she will not end up like that. For now, she will continue playing the role of the unremarkable fourteen year old, mildly gifted with her psynergy, and as compliant as all the other students. Little do they know she doesn't believe in their lies, that she is more powerful than most professional Hunters, and that she has been working her way through the list of rules since she got here, breaking each one in turn._

_She takes the bottle of spirit she has stashed under her bed and takes a sip. It burns her tongue, but it helps her cope with the stress of keeping up her little act. She looks at the list of rules nailed to the wall. Every room has one; they're everywhere, just in case any kid forgets. Sarah reads through the list until she gets to the final one, the only one that she has yet to break: _Students will not leave the premises without permission. _Or, as she sees it, no escaping. She has planned what she will do to hide herself once she leaves. She will use what money she can get from pick-pocketing (a skill she was taught by her mother) to get a train as far away as possible. She will find an adept's refuge and she will live there for however long is necessary. Then she will take a new name. She has already decided on Elizabeth and is thinks that she would quite like to be called Effy as a nickname: distinctive yet unlikely to attract unwanted attention. She does not yet have a surname. She is tempted to keep her current one, in memory of her mother and father who were murdered at the hands of a Hunter, but realizes that it would probably be too dangerous to do so. Her plans are ready. She just needs to know how to get out._

_She sits there trying for the hundredth time to come up with an idea, but nothing comes. It is almost time for lights out when she hears a noise from the corridor beyond her room. It sounds like a fight, perhaps somebody is breaking in, and then she can make out speech._

_"Special branch are here! C'mon Tony we haven't got much time!"_

_"Shit, Sid. Do you want Cas back or not? You've got to give me some space to work here."_

_Sarah's mind begins to do cartwheels. She realizes that whoever the people outside her room are, they're here to get somebody out. And that means that they can get her out as well. She knows that she can help them; she knows where they keep all the different groups of students. If they can give her a full name and age, she'll be able to find this 'Cas' easily._

_Sarah bangs on the door, hoping that the people outside can hear._

_"For Christ's sake Tony, don't open it!" She hears just before the door swings wide open. On the other side she sees a boy, a couple of years older than her, holding a set of keys in one hand, which he must have stolen from one of the barstards that run the place. He wears a strange half smile._

_"And you would be…." He asks politely despite being under pressure._

_"Hurry up Tony!" A yell comes from around the corner._

_"Sidney! You're not helping!"_

_Sarah makes a snap decision. She makes a snap decision that this is definitely the moment that she will escape, that she will be rid of this place forever from this night on. To show to herself her own commitment she decides that this is the moment that Sarah Newman ceases to exist. This is the moment in which she embraces her new life, her new identity. This is the moment that the pain and grief and suffering that she associates with the name Sarah Newman can finally be put to rest and forgotten. From this moment she will be a new person, and she will find strength in her new identity. "Effy." She says. "And I can find whoever it is you're looking for."_

_"Hit the fucking jackpot over here Sid!" The boy with the strange smile says to his friend, who emerges from around the corner. "I'm Tony, and this is Sid. Now, Effy, can you tell us where Cassie Ainsworth is?"_

_"How old is she?" Effy asks._

_"Fourteen." Tony replies._

_Effy nods her head towards the right and they all take off in that direction. _

_Suddenly a noise comes from everywhere and nowhere and once, seeming to pierce reality itself; yet neither Tony not Sid seem to notice. Effy is confused for a split second but then her waking self realizes what is going on as she realizes that the sound is somebody calling her name._

_"Effy! Effy, wake up!"_

_* * *_

"Ef, wake up. Just one station to go." Effy opened her eyes groggily. She stared across the table and saw Naomi sitting opposite with Emily's sleeping head slumped on her shoulder. Sitting next to Effy was Cook, snoring loudly. Across the aisle Rob Fitch also slept, unsurprising given the day that he was having.

"It's Cardiff next." Naomi told her. They were on board a train bound for Cardiff to meet Tony and work on getting Katie and James out of the boarding school that they had been taken to. Cook had agreed to come at a moment's notice, saying that he was bored and fancied a challenge after Naomi's escape. The others would be making their way to Cardiff soon, because unlike Cook, they could not drop everything at a moment's notice.

Effy peered out of the window. It was dark outside and it was raining, which would make waiting for a bus fun. Half the lights in the carriage were broken, and the rest were fairly dim, making it the perfect place to sleep. "Nightmares?" Naomi asked, "You seemed pretty… disturbed in your sleep."

Effy reflected on Naomi's words for a moment. "No, good dreams. Looks like you're the only one who could resist the lure of a nap." Effy stated

"Somebody's got to be a pillow." Naomi pointed to Emily who had her hands on Naomi's shoulder and her head resting on top of them, looking very content in her sleep. Effy let out a small laugh as Naomi tried to coax her from her sleep gently, earning indistinguishable sounds from Emily, who clearly did not want to be taken from the land of dreams and back into the harsh reality of the situation that she was in.

Effy's approach was the polar opposite: She gave Cook a sharp jab in the stomach with her elbow. He woke up clutching his stomach. "What the fuck was that for?" Cook bellowed, turning a few heads in their carriage and bringing Emily away from her slumber. Naomi and Effy burst out laughing at the pained expression on Cook's face.

Emily opened her eyes and frowned at him. "Fuck's sake Cook. I'm trying to sleep over here." She barely managed to whisper the words, but the situation sent Effy and Naomi into more laughter.

"You're trying to fucking sleep, are you Ems? Don't fucking blame me, so am I. Blame Effy-kins over here and her unusual methods of waking a man." Cook's impassioned speech earned a few more looks from people on the train holding books, but they turned their gaze away after a few seconds.

Effy and Naomi were in stitches laughing at the argument, but Emily was confused. She stared up at Naomi looking bewildered by the whole situation. "Nai, what's so funny?" She asked. Naomi managed to control her laughter and leant down to kiss Emily.

"Nothing, Ems. Just, we're almost there."

Emily seemed satisfied with the explanation; however she remained irritated by being woken up. "But I was having this great dream where we went to this fancy-dress party and I was a ninja, and you were a pirate, and…"

Naomi silenced her by leaning down to kiss her again. "You mean that same one you have every other night?" Naomi asked her, smiling despite having heard that dream a hundred times.

Emily furrowed her brows for a second before realization dawned across her face. "Oh yeah." She smiled and this time Effy laughed with Cook.

"Go on, you'd better wake up Rob." Naomi told her as she took Emily's hand while Emily reached across the aisle and started tapping her father on the arm while whispering, telling him that it was time to wake up.

"I'd better give Tony a call; tell him we'll be there soon." Effy pulled out her phone, and found her adoptive brother's name in her contacts list.


	10. Chapter 10

**Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my absence. I've just had the exam season, then had to enrol at college, and been on holiday in-between, besides working on another writing project. This one was a bit tricky, another reason for the delay, but I think I've finally come up with something that works. Thanks for my reviews, and I hope you enjoy this long-overdue instalment and that it's worth the wait.**

Tony Stonem had to try harder than he ever had before. Like his adopted sister, he had once been a very powerful Venus adept. Their powers had been so similar, it wouldn't have surprised him at all if they had turned out to be long lost third cousins or somet similar distant relation.

But for Tony Stonem it had all changed. It had all changed that fateful night with the bus. Just minutes before, he had been ecstatic, though he wouldn't allow himself to show it much. He had been ecstatic because Effy had spoken. _Spoken!_ She had helped him out when he had met her, and of course had talked for a while after that while she settled in to her new life. However, slowly, and with little notice taken, she had simply stopped speaking, instead she had turned to long drug-fuelled nights out. But finally she was talking. It didn't matter that she had called him a fucking wanker. She had spoken!

But that excitement was wiped away the second that bus hit him. In fact, most things were, including the majority of his psynergy capacity. Since that incident, calling upon even small amounts of his talent required strenuous concentration.

A thundering bus broke his reverie with a start. Tony looked up from the section of the floor that he was staring at to see another bus at the far end of the street. As it approached he distinguished the familiar sight of his sister standing by the door waiting to get off. As the bus slowed to a halt he found himself smiling widely as Effy stepped off and he enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey Ef." He said.

"Hi Tony." She replied.

"Any trouble getting here?" He asked.

"Nah, they haven't started posting policeman on trains just yet."

Tony laughed. "I meant delays and that sort of thing."  
"Oh, none of them either." She said. "Anyway, I should introduce you to everybody."

"So what happens now? We just waltz into the school and grab them?"

"Nah, Naomikins, it's a bit more complicated than that." Naomi and Cook trailed a few metres behind the rest of the group. Effy and Tony were having a very animated discussion about anything and everything while Emily and her father tried to cheer each other up. "I think we're going to the refuge at Cardiff."

"Hope it's not as shit as the Bristol one." She replied.

"Wouldn't worry, princess. If Tony is his sister's brother, then he'll have some sort of night out planned."

Naomi couldn't argue with that. Perhaps her unexpected stay in Cardiff would be more fun than she had originally thought.

After Rob Fitch had been found a bed at the refuge, too tired to begin planning his family's rescue, Tony had rounded up Effy and her friends, in various states between waking and sleeping and persuaded them that a night out in Cardiff was just what they needed, and, slightly surprisingly, they had all agreed with him. Tony took them off to a large pub where there was live music, so while everyone else stood getting drunk and listening to a man scream into a microphone about metal birds accompanied by a guitarist a drummer, a double-bass player and several violinists, followed by a four-minute lull, where the lead singer strummed lazily at his guitar, followed by another few minutes of insane yet ordered noise, Tony went off to find a friend of his. He told them that Effy and her friends were 'in town on business' hinting to everyone else that his friend was an adept, or at least a sympathizer. His companion was a woman with short blonde hair of roughly the same height and build as tony.

"So you're all here from Bristol?" She asked Emily with a welsh accent.

"Yeah." Emily shouted back as the band began their next song, which seemed to be very much quieter than the previous one.

"There's been a lot of shit happening there lately." The woman said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah they've caught quite a few adepts." Emily spoke in a quieter tone than last time, but just as the song began to increase in volume, forcing her to misjudge the volume of her speech once again.

"Don't worry, I'm one too, you don't have to pretend. And trust me, this place is safe, mostly only adepts and sympathizers come in here."

"Why?" Emily questioned, as the music increased in volume once more.

"To anybody who isn't one of us, we charge them twice as much as anywhere else in the city for a drink."

"And nobody other than adepts ever comes in?"

She shrugged. "You'd be amazed how little it takes to deter the general public." The song was now in full swing, with the singer shouting emotional, barely distinguishable, meaningful-sounding words into the microphone.

"Wow. So which are you?"

"I'm a Mars. Nearly been caught _fifteen_ times, and got away every single time. You might have seen me on most wanted posters, Jo Green. I think they're offering half a million for me, last time I checked."

Emily noticed the pride evident in last few sentences.

"I'm a Mars as well, Emily Fitch."

Emily watched the expression change on Jo's face. "Oh shit!" You're the one who… I'm sorry about what happened." She finished uncertainly

"Not you're fault. It was her own stupid fault." Emily looked up to see Jo looking confused. "Never mind." She said.

"Well, I'm part of the rescue party, so hopefully we can sort this out."

"Thanks." Emily smiled uncertainly.

Suddenly Emily heard a voice she recognized. "S'cuse, sorry, really sorry." She witnessed Naomi nearly manage to battle her way back from the front of the crowd to Emily, before being blocked by an extremely overweight man. She sighed and poked her hand beyond his belly extending it to Emily as the song wound down. "Ems we're all up the front. Isn't it great? The music I mean. It's different, y'no, but not in a bad way, in a good way. Apparently they played in Bristol last week. Why didn't we see them Ems? Why not? Why didn't we Emsy?" Emily could tell that Naomi was just the wrong side of tipsy. She smiled at Jo, excusing herself, and Jo nodded at her. She took Naomi's hand and eventually managed to shove her way past the gargantuan man in front.

As she made her way to the front Emily felt not only the volume increase, but also the atmosphere, and soon found herself agreeing with Naomi's drunken words about the band: they created such an atmosphere it was impossible to resist becoming a part of it. The dreadlocked singer spoke his lyrics as though his life truly depended upon it, charging them with so much emotion. It was impossible to work out what his lyrics meant, yet from his voice and the music she guessed he was saying something very poignant about something very important. They were on for almost two hours, despite one of the violinists being heavily pregnant, and by the second encore Emily found herself sawing on Naomi's shoulders, feeling intoxicated, though not by alcohol. At the end of the evening Emily walked away having forked out fifteen pounds for a couple of CDs (a rarity for her; she mostly received, legally or not, her music from the internet), Which Naomi was looking over eagerly. As they caught the night bus back to their latest home, she suddenly realized she still didn't have a clue about most of the lyrics, yet she still felt that they were all relevant. She wondered if any of the band members were adepts.


End file.
